Can Drones Do Santa's Job?

David Konow, 19th December 2013

Okay, hope nobody really young is reading this right now, but we all know there’s no such thing as Santa Claus, although it’s always been a wonderful myth. And in today’s day and age, it fun to think of the logistics required to travel around the world and give all the kiddies their toys.

Drones have been in the news lately because of the report that Amazon may employ them, and there’s also talk that in Batman Vs Superman the caped crusader will be using “bat drones” as well. So Kernel raised the question, how many drones could do Santa’s job?

The story speculates “a fleet of some 80 million or so F-16 drones” could do the job. But again, tough logistics. “Is he reimbursed by the public spector,” writer Greg Stevens asks. “Does he pay his reindeer, or are they indentured servants? Nonetheless, these are minor details compared to the dramatic increase in efficiency that Santa will gain by replacing his light-speed traveling, single-sleigh approach with the much more sensible ‘Yuletide swarm’ of unmanned drones.”

This article makes a strong case that Santa should get with the times and employ a fleet of drones, and give the reindeer a rest. Then again, Santa’s pretty hands on, and he is probably terrified technology could make a mistake and not deliver somebody their toys. But he could definitely get some logistics help, and maybe the elves can be trained to set all this up, and bring Santa into the modern age.